Director Baz Luhrmann‘s new film Elvis may be about Elvis Presley, but manager Col. Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks, will guide the story.
Parker discovered Elvis in 1955 and steered his career for twenty years, using marketing strategies that he learned during his days as a carnival worker, “operating concessions, freak shows and even animal acts for a period of 10 years,” according to Turner Classic Movies. The experience taught him about acts that could draw a crowd.
“He was my destiny,” narrates Hanks as Parker in the Elvis trailer. “Now, I don’t know nothing about music. But I could see in that girl’s eyes, he was a taste of forbidden fruit. She could have eaten him alive!”
Hanks has won two Best Actor Academy Awards in his career, in 1994 (Philadelphia) and 1995 (Forrest Gump). However, Lisa Marie Presley sees a different Oscar favorite in the movie about her father.
“I do want to take a moment to let you know that I’ve seen Baz Luhrmann’s movie Elvis twice now. Let me tell you that it is nothing short of spectacular. Absolutely exquisite. Austin Butler channeled and embodied my father’s heart & soul beautifully,” Presley tweeted, before adding that if Butler doesn’t win an Academy Award, “I will eat my own foot.”
Luhrmann did extensive research for the movie and wrote the screenplay with Craig Pearce, Jeremy Doner and Sam Bromell. “[Luhrmann] goes into total immersion on his films, surrounding himself with excavations from the world he is creating, from drapes to wardrobe to photos,” reported the NY Times. “He only chooses subjects he’s madly in love with, then fearlessly dives in.”
It is a movie about music but Luhrmann will include the social and political climate of the time as a backdrop, depicting cultural shifts throughout the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s. B.B. King, Little Richard, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe will be central to those storylines.
The King’s songs will be featured, although diehard Elvis fans should prepare for a surprise treatment with a few of them. ”You will hear the classics, you will see the story of Elvis, but we’ve translated that for a new generation,” Luhrmann noted.
In the gallery below, we’ve highlighted what we know about each of the main cast members and the people they play. Elvis will be in theaters on June 24.